Laptops FOR DUMmIES phần 5 pot

Most laptops are smart enough to see the external monitor and let you start using it, keeping the laptop’s power on while the lid is closed.. Whether you’re printing on the road or at ho

 Some cards may require extra software to make them go It will state so

in the card’s manual Other cards, like many USB devices, can just be

plugged in, and they’re off and running

 The most common type of PC Card available today is a wireless

network-ing card Installnetwork-ing the card is only half the battle The rest is properly

configuring your laptop to connect to a wireless network Refer to

Chapter 9 for the gory details

 The device installed in Figure 7-5 is an IEEE 1394 (or FireWire) port

expansion card

Using the PC Card

After the PC Card is inserted and properly set up, you can use its features

In fact, you can keep the card inside your PC for as long as you need those

features

Note that some cards hang out of the PC Card slot a bit Some may have

pop-out connectors Be careful of those! They can get caught on things, so you

might consider removing such the PC Card before you pack up and tote the

laptop away

 If you’re adding USB or IEEE 1394 expansion with a PC Card, then you

can start using those ports right away Refer to the sections on using

USB devices earlier in this chapter for more information

 Adding a network device allows you to use that device — providing

that networking options have been properly configured (as covered in

Chapter 9) But after you’ve set up networking, you can remove and

rein-sert the networking PC Card as often as you like

 Removable storage devices can be used after they’ve been inserted and

recognized by Windows But be sure to properly remove the device, as

covered in the following section

Removing the PC Card

Though all PC Cards can easily be pinched and yanked out of their cozy

sock-ets, that’s not the best way to treat your PC’s hardware Instead, follow these

steps:

1 Click the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the System Tray.

Refer to the section, “Removing external storage,” earlier in this chapter

for the details

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A message appears telling you that the device can be safely removed.

3 Pull the PC Card out from its slot.

Some cards need a bit of help here You’ll have to find a small button tothe right of the card Pushing the button in a ways makes it pop outabout a half inch or so Then press the button back into the laptop tohelp push out the PC Card

Store the PC Card in a proper place, such as in your laptop bag or in a drawer

or cubby with the rest of your laptop gear The idea here is to keep the PCCard from being stepped on or crushed by a Big Gulp cup

Adding Some Big Boy Toys

If you plan to land your laptop in one place all the time, then you’ll probablywant to upgrade its teensy portable features with some more robust desktopcounterparts Specifically, I speak of the keyboard, monitor, and mouse Any

of these desktop-sized items can be added to and used with a laptop instead

of their feeble laptop counterparts Use one Use them all It’s up to you

 Yeah, if you’re really picky, you can even take a spare keyboard andmouse with you when you travel

 Note that keyboards and mice do not need separate power supplies towork, but monitors do!

 If you really want a larger monitor with your laptop, and you want totake it with you, then consider upgrading to one of the many large-format or widescreen laptops with those sexy, humongous screens

They might not be as portable as smaller laptops, but yowza!

Using an external keyboard

If you miss the full size and action of a real PC keyboard, then get one! Justplug it into your laptop, either into the keyboard port or a USB port,whichever is available You can start using the keyboard the second that it’splugged in

Note that adding an external keyboard often does not disable the laptop’sinternal keyboard You can use both! But you’re probably not crazy enough

to do that

When you’re done using the full-sized keyboard, simply unplug it.

 If all you’re yearning for is to have a separate numeric keypad, then

con-sidering getting only that You can pick up a USB numeric keypad, which

is just the keypad and not the entire keyboard, at most computer stores

and office supply stores

 Sometimes, the only way you can add a non-USB keyboard to your

laptop is by getting a port replicator or docking station

 The standard color for a PC’s keyboard connector — the hole somewhere

on your laptop for plugging in the keyboard — is purple

Connecting a second monitor

or video projector

Most modern laptops are automatically equipped to handle two monitors,

the laptop’s own LCD and an external monitor This is because many laptops

are often used for storing and showing presentations, and it just makes sense

to have the laptop all ready to go in that respect

To add the external monitor, locate the monitor connector on your PC’s

rump Plug in the monitor, and you’re ready to go You can use that monitor

in conjunction with your laptop’s LCD or as your laptop’s only display

 On some laptops, the same image appears on both the LCD and the

external monitor

 If you want to use the external monitor exclusively, then just close your

laptop’s lid Most laptops are smart enough to see the external monitor

and let you start using it, keeping the laptop’s power on while the lid is

closed When you open the laptop’s lid, control returns back to the

laptop’s LCD

 Note that if you close the lid, it helps to have an external mouse or

keyboard connected to the laptop so that you can still use your

software

 The monitor connector can also be an S-video connector This allows

you to connect your laptop not only to an external monitor, but also to

many TV sets, VCRs, and DVD players Refer to Chapter 5, Table 5-1 for

more information

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Using two monitors at once

If you want to use two monitors at once, you need to direct Windows to do

so After connecting the second monitor, follow these steps:

1 Open the Display Properties dialog box.

Refer to Chapter 6 for more details

2 Click the Settings tab.

You see both monitors displayed in the top of the dialog box

3 Click the second monitor.

4 Choose the Extend My Windows Desktop onto This Monitor option.

5 Click the Apply button.

6 Adjust the monitors’ positions in the area near the top of the dialog box.

You can drag the number 1 or number 2 monitor around to help alignthe two desktops Use the mouse to grab and drag each monitor into aproper position relative to each other

7 Click the OK button when you’re done.

Note that the laptop’s LCD is always the first display It will be the only displaythat contains the taskbar and Start button And though you can drag windowsand icons to the second display, they’ll all hop back to the first display thenext time you restart Windows

Gotta getta mouse

A computer mouse is perhaps the best companion you can buy for your laptop.Not that flat, odd, mouse pad thing! I’m talking about a real computer mouse.Just grab your favorite desktop mouse and plug it into your laptop It makesfor a much more enjoyable laptop experience — even if you often have to useyour thigh to roll the mouse around

Mice makers are aware of laptop owners’ fondness for “real” computer mice

So they have a whole line of options available to you You don’t have to get

a full-sized desktop computer mouse No, you can opt for one of those newmini-mice for laptops They work just like desktop mice, but they’re abouthalf the size Some are even wireless And they’re all better than using thatsilly touch pad

Adding an external mouse may or may not disable your laptop’s touch pad If

you do want the touch pad disabled, then use the Mouse icon in the Control

Panel to disable it (providing that it’s a hardware option for your laptop)

Printing

When Adam Osborne originally proposed the portable computer, portable

printing was not part of the big picture Instead, printing is something that

can be done later You can transfer your on-the-road files to your desktop

system, or wait until your laptop is docked, before printing But portable

printing?

True, there are portable printers I’ve used the Cannon Bubble Jet portable

printer with my laptop It’s not that heavy, has full color, is fairly fast, and it

runs off flashlight batteries So there are on-the-road printing options if you

want them

Whether you’re printing on the road or at home, the following sections

describe how to set up and use a printer — or even a printer alternative —

with your laptop computer

Setting up the printer

Though the laptop comes with a connector mysteriously called the printer port,

you probably want to use a USB printer with your laptop Only if you already

have a printer and it’s a traditional (non-USB) model should you consider

connecting it USB is the wave of the future, man!

To connect the printer, follow these steps:

1 Plug in the printer, but ensure that it’s turned off.

Also, set up the printer with ink and paper and all that other good stuffaccording to the directions that came with the printer

2 Connect a USB cable to the printer and to your laptop.

Or if you just cannot stand my advice, plug a standard printer cable intothe printer’s rump or into your laptop’s very expensive port replicator

or docking station

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Windows should instantly recognize the printer, as shown in Figure 7-6.Then, because you’re using a USB printer, it will know the printer’s nameand brand and it will even completely install software for you, settingeverything up just so.

When you’re using the older printer-port type of printer, you’ll probablyhave to use some kind of software installation disk that will just driveyou nuts Good luck!

After the printer has been set up and recognized by Windows, you can eitherprint or you can save some energy and turn the printer off You can even dis-connect it when you don’t need it Reconnecting the printer simply reactivatesits support in Windows

 The printer port might not be available on your laptop You may need

a port replicator or docking station to access the old-fashioned, sillyprinter port

 Leave your printer turned off when you’re not using it

 You can unplug the printer’s USB cable without having to use the SafelyRemove Hardware icon in the System Tray Just unplug the cable andWindows bids adieu to your printer

 Yes, it’s not a good idea to unplug or turn off your printer while it’s printing

 If you’re having trouble adding your printer, open the Control Panel anddouble-click the Printers and Faxes icon to display the Printers andFaxes window Click the Add Printer task in that window to run the AddPrinter Wizard, which should help you complete the printer setup task

 Printers work by using a driver, which is a software program that controls

the printer Windows knows about many printers and comes with theirdriver software For other printers, you need to find a CD with the driversoftware that came with the printer, or you have to visit the printer man-ufacturer’s Web site to download the latest driver

Wow

Printing in Windows

To print a document, e-mail, or anything in Windows, you use the File➪Print

command This displays the Print dialog box, which can also be summoned

by using the Ctrl+P keyboard shortcut A sample of this dialog box is shown

in Figure 7-7

Here are the quick steps you can take to work through this dialog box:

1 Choose your printer from the list of printers.

This is also where you select the Microsoft Fax, or your computer’s fax

software, to send a fax

Note that some printers visible in the window are network printers,

available only when your computer is plugged into the network Printing

to them is fine; the document waits until you reconnect to the network

before it prints

2 Select the range of pages to print.

3 Select the number of copies.

4 Click the Properties or Preferences button to set individual printer

settings.

For example, if you want to print in black ink only on a color printer, you

would set that option by clicking the Properties or Preferences button,

and then setting the printer’s color in the dialog box that appears

5 Click the Print button to print your document.

Also refer to Chapter 6 for information on setting a default printer, as well aswhere to find the Printers and Faxes window.

Options for when you don’t have a printerOnly the truly clever can print when a printer is not available And for therest of us, I offer these suggestions:

 Most hotels have business centers where you can temporarily connect

to a printer and get your stuff on paper

 Some office supply stores offer printing services Print shops and placessuch as Kinko’s also have printers available for rent by the hour or bythe sheet

 Fax machines are printers If you know of a fax machine nearby, just sendyour document as a fax Note that plain paper faxes are preferred for this;avoid wax-paper faxes if possible And note that faxes do not print in color

As a last, desperate move, you might just try printing to the printer you use athome or the office, even though it’s not connected While this won’t get you acopy right away, the item to be printed sits and waits on your computer until

you’re once again connected to the printer At that time, it will spool out of

storage and print as you intended

What about printing to disk?

Once upon a time, you could save printer

infor-mation to disk like a file Then you printed that

file by sending it directly to the printer, either via

a DOS command or by dragging that file onto

your printer’s icon This worked well in earlier

versions of Windows but does not work at all in

Windows XP — despite the Print to Disk option

still being available in the Print dialog box

A great alternative for the old Print to Diskoption is to create an Adobe Acrobat, or PDF,document instead For this, you need to buy theAdobe Acrobat Writer software or an equiva-lent The Acrobat Writer software appears inyour laptop’s list of printers Select it for print-ing, and the result is a PDF document that’sreadable on just about any computer

Chapter 8

Power Management Madness

In This Chapter

Knowing various types of batteries

Locating your laptop’s battery

Monitoring battery usage

Charging the battery

Using a spare battery

Conditioning the battery

Disposing of dead laptop batteries

Managing power usage in Windows XP

The first efforts made by the engineering team to make things portable

were done primarily to satisfy management and its quest for return solutions Stuffing a desktop computer’s components into a single caseand bolting a handle on top definitely makes that computer portable and satis-fies management’s desire for cheap solutions Yet at some point, the engineershad to wonder whether they could do better

low-cost/high-Indeed, to make something truly portable, it must also be free of the powercord The inspiration here just had to be the portable radio It came with ahandle but no power cord Instead, the power was supplied via common

flashlight batteries Batteries Yes! That must be the solution For a computer

to be truly portable, it must get its power from batteries instead of a wallsocket (And it still must have a handsome leatherette carrying handle.)This chapter is specifically about the battery inside your laptop computer

The general topic, of course, is power management That’s the goal of using

any battery; use it as you need it, but always with a mind to stretch thatpower as far as you can

The Battery Will Get a

Charge Out of This!

The thing that makes your laptop go on the road, or I should say the thing

that powers your laptop on the road, is a battery If your laptop “goes” on the

road, be sure to clean up after it

Having a battery in your laptop is not news Even so, you may have some tions about the battery, and you probably want to know how best to use it and

ques-get better performance from it Yes, indeed, you probably have a battery of

questions! Ha! So before this paragraph degenerates further, the following sections touch upon battery issues, important and trivial

Types of batteries

A battery by any other name would still sting like heck when your big brotherfooled you into putting it into your mouth

Just as a good gardener knows that there is more than one type of rose, so

is there more than one type of battery They all provide electricity But yetbetween each battery type, there are plusses and minuses

Alkaline This is the most common type of battery, normally used in

flash-lights, portable radios, remote controls, smoke alarms, and kids’ toys Theadvantage here is that you can find these standard-sized batteries anywhere

A few portable computing devices (printers, handhelds) use them But fewlaptops do The reason is that they’re not rechargeable You use them, youthrow them out (properly, according to the environmentally safe battery dis-posal rules of your jurisdiction)

Lead acid The most common place to find the scary-sounding lead-acid

bat-tery is in your automobile These batteries are durable, long-lasting,

recharge-able, but they’re also heavy and, well, they’re full of lead-acid! Yikes!

More commonly, in a laptop computer, you’ll find one of the following types

of batteries:

Lithium-Ion This is the type of battery you want to have in your laptop It’s

lightweight and better performing than the other types of batteries UnlikeNiCads or NiMH batteries, Lithium-Ion batteries don’t have The DreadedMemory Effect There is usually a rapid charging option with Lithium-Ion batteries, which is good when you’re in a crunch Finally, this type of battery

is more environmentally friendly than the other types And it has a sounding name

cool-Nickel Cadmium (NiCad) Of all the rechargeable types of consumer

electron-ics batteries, the NiCad is the oldest It’s frowned upon now, mostly because

this type of battery suffered terribly from The Dreaded Memory Effect Even

so, NiCads offer great performance and until the better battery technologies

came along, they dominated the portable power storage market

Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) This type of battery was one of the first

suc-cessful alternatives to NiCads A NiMH battery is longer lasting than a NiCad,

but sadly it suffers from The Dreaded Memory Effect just as badly as the

NiCad

 Of all these batteries, odds are very good that your laptop has a

Lithium-Ion type That’s pretty much state of the art

 Lithium-Ion is often abbreviated as LION Because that’s also the word

for a big, ferocious kitty cat, I use “Lithium-Ion” in this book

 You can confirm which type of battery your laptop has by looking at its

label Refer to the next section

 If you haven’t yet purchased a laptop, ensure that you get one that has a

Lithium-Ion battery

 A few laptops out there are still using NiMH batteries This is fine, of

course But you might want to check to see if there is a battery upgrade

option to the Lithium-Ion type

 Your laptop might actually have a secondary, alkaline battery inside It’s

used to power the laptop’s internal clock, which keeps track of the time

even when the laptop is unplugged or the battery has drained

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Fuel cells

Laptops of the future, as well as other portable

devices, won’t be using batteries any more

Instead, they’ll be equipped with something

called a fuel cell.

Fuel cells use a magical combination of

chem-istry and physics to provide power for a much

longer period of time than a typical battery When

the fuel cell gets low, you simply add more fuel

to it — similar to filling a gas tank Then the fuel

cell is ready to go, powering your portable

elec-tronics until it needs refilling again

Certain types of fuel cells are available today, butthey’re still too large and bulky to be used with

a laptop computer The present time schedulestates that by the year 2010, fuel cells will besmall, light, and compact enough for use in laptopcomputers When that time comes, power man-agement on your laptop will become a differentcreature, and battery-saving tips and techniqueswill become a thing of the past

things powered for the minute or so that it takes you to swap a spentmain battery out with a fresh one See the section, “The spare battery,”later in this chapter.

 Refer to the sidebar, “The Dreaded Memory Effect,” for information on,well, The Dreaded Memory Effect

 Using unapproved batteries in your laptop may lead to bad things, such

as, oh, the laptop exploding

 Another thing to look for is a smart battery This type of battery contains

circuitry that communicates with the laptop, letting it know the battery’scondition so that you get better power control Such batteries last longerdue to better power management

Finding your laptop’s batteryTake a moment to locate your laptop’s battery Odds are good that it loads

in on the bottom of the laptop, though many laptops have their batteriesinserted through a hole or door in the side

The battery may be labeled, describing what type of battery it is (see the vious section), as well as other information about the charge it holds, serialnumber, replacement information, and so on Note that often this informationmay be printed on the laptop case instead of or in addition to being on thebattery

pre- Be aware of where your battery is stored in your laptop You may need

to remove or replace it in the future

 Most laptops use a few sliding locks or clips to help keep the battery inplace Do not force a battery into or out of your laptop

 Batteries get warm as they’re being used That’s simply their nature.However:

 Watch out if the battery gets too hot! For example, the battery is too hot to touch or hold for more than a few seconds That could be a sign

of a malfunctioning battery, and such a thing is dangerous Phone your

dealer or laptop manufacturer immediately if you suspect that the tery is running hot

bat-Monitoring the batteryThe laptop’s battery drains as you use it, which is to be expected In modernlaptops, you should plan for at least two or three hours of active computer

use under battery power The rate of drain does vary, however, depending

on what you’re doing with the laptop And, naturally, depending on what

you’re doing, that time may pass by rather quickly

In Windows XP, you can monitor the battery by viewing the tiny battery icon

in the Notification Area (or System Tray) The icon graphically shows how

much power is left; the icon’s color “drains” out as you use the laptop But

often that display is too tiny, so what you can do is point the mouse at the

icon to see a pop-up bubble explain how much juice you have left, as shown

in Figure 8-1

In Figure 8-1, Windows shows that one hour, three minutes are left for battery

life, and the battery has about 31 percent of its power remaining

You can also monitor the battery usage from the Control Panel’s Power

Options icon The Power Meter tab offers up lots of juicy information on

the battery’s status, as shown in Figure 8-2

Your laptop manufacturer may have also included other battery tools, such

as a battery monitor window, a special keyboard shortcut to display batterystatus, specific battery icons in the Control Panel, and so on Be sure toreview what you have, as often these tools can be better or more useful thanwhat Windows XP offers

 The battery icon may not appear in the Notification Area when yourlaptop is being AC powered

 To ensure that the icon shows up, even when the laptop is plugged in,open the Control Panel’s Power Options icon, click on the Advanced tab,and put a check mark by the Always Show Icon on the Taskbar option.Click OK

 On some laptops, a different icon may appear in the Notification Areawhen the laptop is AC powered

 The battery icon on your laptop’s row-o-lights may also indicate howmuch charge is left by changing color or even the amount of light show-ing through Refer to Chapter 5 for more information on finding the bat-tery light or icon on your laptop

 AC powered means being powered by electricity from a wall socket.

 DC powered means being powered by the battery.

The Dreaded Memory Effect

In the old days of the NiCad and even NiMH

bat-teries, the mantra went that you had to fully

dis-charge the battery, all the way down to zero,

before you even considered recharging the

thing This was true and necessary: If you didn’t

fully drain the battery, then it began to lose its

potency over time

What happened, especially with NiCad batteries,

was that the battery would “remember” how long

it was used So if the battery held one hour of

power when fully charged, but you recharged it

after only 30 minutes of use, then the former

one-hour battery would become a 30-minute battery

That’s The Dreaded Memory Effect

To avoid The Dreaded Memory Effect and to

pro-long the life of their batteries, NiCad users would

insist on fully draining the batteries each and

every time they were used Laptop owners wouldhave to wait until their machines completely shutdown before recharging (Remember, NiCads arenot “smart” batteries either.) Even so, some userswould give up, and eventually their rechargeableNiCads would be down to only ten minutes ofpower — not enough

Today’s Lithium-Ion batteries do not have TheDreaded Memory Effect at all You can use themfor a minute, then recharge, and the battery willstill be as good as it was when you bought it Soboldly use your battery without fear And nexttime someone mentions The Dreaded MemoryEffect, giggle with a smug laugh of confidence,secure in the knowledge that you’re safe fromthe power problems of the past

 Smart battery technology is responsible for the ability of Windows to

determine how much power is left in the battery But still be aware that

such a thing is an estimate Different things can affect battery life So

don’t bet real money on how much longer your laptop can survive off

the battery

 Refer to Chapter 6 for more information about the Control Panel in

Windows

What happens when the power gets low

You know that terrible feeling you get immediately after a power outage?

You know, everything in the room goes dark or turns off It’s startling! Well,

the idea behind using your laptop is to avoid that feeling when the battery’s

power starts to go

Thanks to smart battery technology, your laptop computer gives you a good

deal of warning before the battery poops out It’s enough time to finish what

you’re working on, save, close programs, and shut down the computer

properly

Figure 8-3 shows the low battery bubble warning that Windows pops up

That’s the initial warning A second warning appears just before the battery

dies It should say, “I told you so,” but actually, it just warns that a power-off

situation is imminent At that point, the laptop ignores you and either shuts

down or goes into hibernation

What the laptop does when the battery dies, or when the two warnings (

initial and imminent) appear, is set in the Power Options dialog box, Alarms

tab, shown in Figure 8-4

The first warning is known as the Low Battery Alarm You activate it by

putting a check mark by the Activate Low Battery Alarm When Power Level

Reaches option, as shown in Figure 8-4 Use the mouse to adjust the slider,

setting the percentage of battery life left when the Low Battery Alarm kicks

in You can further use the Alarm Action button to tell Windows what to do:

to pop-up a warning, beep, or shutdown (More on that in a moment.)

The second warning (refer to Figure 8-4) is the Critical Battery Alarm I highlyrecommend activating this option and setting the slider to something low,such as the 3 percent shown in Figure 8-4 Click the Alarm Action button tosee which options to take when the power does get low.

In Figure 8-5, you see the options available for when the power gets criticallylow These things take place automatically, controlled by Windows The com-puter can sound an alarm or display a message But more importantly, youcan direct the computer to hibernate, stand by, or shut down completely, asshown in the Alarm Action area of the dialog box

Also notice the Run a Program area If necessary, you can configure a certain

program to run when the power gets low, such as a utility to immediately back

up your work files to a flash memory card, send remaining e-mail, or a number

of other options

After the critical warning appears, the laptop does as its directed, shutting

down or suspending or hibernating It remains in this state until you either

replace or recharge the battery, or you plug the laptop back into the wall for

power

 That critical battery notice is serious Computer time is over! If you

ignore the warning, your laptop will stop working And so will you

 When the low battery notice sounds or appears, and you are blessed

with a second battery for your laptop, pop it in and keep working! Refer

to the section, “The spare battery,” later in this chapter

 The best thing to do when power gets low: Plug in! This is why I always

take my power cable with my laptop wherever I go

Charging the battery

This is easy to do: Charging a laptop battery is done by simply plugging the

laptop into a wall socket Immediately, the laptop switches from battery (DC)

power to AC power, and the power management hardware inside the laptop

begins to recharge the battery

You can recharge your laptop’s battery whether the battery is fully drained

or not Especially if your laptop is using a Lithium-Ion battery, this makes

no difference Refer to the sidebar, “The Dreaded Memory Effect,” for more

information

Note that Lithium-Ion batteries do have a rapid-charging option This option

is either available in a custom tab inside the Power Options dialog box, or

it may be available through special battery software that came with your

laptop In a pinch, a rapid charge can save time But normally, you want a

nice, full, slow charge for your laptop’s battery

 I generally leave my laptop plugged into the wall whenever I can

 There is no need to fully drain your laptop’s Lithium-Ion battery every

time you use it

 It does benefit NiCad and NiMH batteries to be fully drained before

they’re recharged That type of battery lasts longer and retains most of

its potency if you fully drain it

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charging unit You can use that to charge extra laptop batteries, shouldyou have them.

 The battery continues to charge, even when the laptop is turned off

 It’s been said that if you’re using a laptop while you’re charging the tery, it will take longer to recharge the batteries than when the laptop

bat-is turned off Thbat-is might have been true once, but it bat-is no longer truetoday; feel free to use your laptop while the battery is charging

 Never short a battery to fully drain it By short, I mean connecting the

two terminals (positive and negative) directly so that the battery simplydrains This is very bad and can cause a fire Don’t do it

The spare batteryOne option you probably ignored when you bought your laptop was getting

a second or spare battery This is must for people who are seriously on theroad or in a remote location where a long time is spent away from the powersocket

Before you use a spare battery, ensure that it’s fully charged Either charge it inthe laptop, or use an external charger (if available) Put the fully charged, sparebattery in your laptop case or in any non-conducting (metallic) container Thenhead out on the road

If your laptop has some type of quick-swapping ability, then when the powergets low, you can just eject your laptop’s original, spent battery and quicklyinsert the spare battery But be sure that your laptop can survive such aheart transplant before you attempt it!

If your laptop doesn’t have the ability to hot-swap batteries, then just turn off(or hibernate) the laptop when the original battery is nearly spent Removethe old battery, insert the fresh one, and then turn the laptop on again

 Yeah, it’s a good idea to get a laptop that supports hot-swapping ies in the first place, if this is a trick you plan on pulling often

batter- I recommend labeling the batteries with a Sharpie so that you don’t getthe two (or more) confused and accidentally insert a dead battery

 You can buy a spare battery from your dealer, or also from stores that sell extra batteries, such as iGo (www.1800batteries.com) orBatteries.com (www.batteries.com)

 Be wary of generic batteries! Always try to get manufacturer or turer-approved batteries for your laptop Anything less and you can runthe risk of setting your laptop ablaze! It’s happened!